HS Musical 3 Dances Way To Box Office Win

Disney's HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 3: SENIOR YEAR, transferring from cable TV to the big screen, debuted with $42.03M and a box office win. Per VARIETY, it's the biggest box office opening for any musical in history. The film also saw $40M in 22 overseas markets, making it the first worldwide No. 1 opener since THE DARK KNIGHT.

Second place went to horror flick SAW V with $30.05M for Lionsgate (vfx by Switch VFX). The now-yearly Halloween staple is now around $2M away from stealing FRIDAY THE 13TH's title as highest-grossing horror franchise in history, per VARIETY.

In its second week, Fox's MAX PAYNE dropped to third place with $7.6M and a two-week gross of $29.86M. The videogame adaption starring Mark Walhberg had vfx by Mr. X and SPIN VFX.

Disney live-action/CG hybrid BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA (vfx by Tippett Studio, Cinesite, Image Engine Design, K.N.B. Effects Group, Kerner Optical, Proof, Realscan 3D and Svengali Visual Effects) placed fourth with $6.884M and has made $78.1M in four weeks in release.

Police drama PRIDE & GLORY (Warner Bros/New Line) opened in fifth place with $6.26M (vfx by Animal Makers and Big Film Design).

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES (Fox Searchlight, vfx by Hammerhead Productions and Lola Visual Effects) placed sixth with $6.05M and $19.325M in two weeks.

Lionsgate's W. dropped to seventh place with $5.09M and a two-week cume of $18.5M.

EAGLE EYE (Paramount/DreamWorks, vfx by Sony Pictures Imageworks, The Third Floor and Kerner Optical) placed eighth with $5.05M and has done close to $88M in five weeks.

Ninth place went to Leonardo DiCaprio-Russell Crowe thriller BODY OF LIES (Warner Bros., vfx by Sony Pictures Imageworks) with $4.065M. The film has a three-week total of $30.89M.

And rounding out the top ten is QUARANTINE (Screen Gems, vfx by Lola Visual Effects and Almost Human), earning $2.58M in its third week out and a cume of $28.8M.

In animation, Disney's annual re-issue of TIM BURTON'S THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS in 3-D made $398,411 in 284 theaters.

Disney-Pixar's WALL-E earned $252,354 for a gross of more than $222M in 18 weeks. MGM's IGOR earned another $144,499 for a six-week cume of $18.75M. STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS did $48,079 for Warner Bros. for $35.1M in 11 weeks.

FLY ME TO THE MOON (Summit Ent.) made $26,673 and has made $12.13M in 11 weeks. Fox's SPACE CHIMPS earned $12,969 and over 15 weeks has made $30.07M.

Opening in a single theater, animated horror anthology IFC's FEAR(S) OF THE DARK made $6,103.

Box office information from BoxOfficeMojo.com.